User blog:Ceauntay/'Teen Titans: The Movie' OutTakes 'The Hunger Games' From No. 1 Friday
FRIDAY 11 PM, 3RD UPDATE: It took all day and all night, but now there’s clarity in terms of movie order. Warner's Teen Titans: The Movie remains #1 Friday. Fox's The Three Stooges remains #2. But “the combination of 22% of K-12 out today, plus our PG family friendly rating, conspired to slow us down at the box office after the 8 PM shows tonight,” a Fox exec says. “But nevertheless we will come in a solid #2 today and for the weekend.” However, the close finishes were also a matter of theater counts – with Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games scoring the most theaters this weekend while the Farrelly Brothers’ Stooges played in 1,105 more runs than Lionsgate’s The Cabin In The Woods which had the much better per screen average, and Teen Titans: The Movie has the widest new release, as it was just 161 runs fewer than Hunger Games at 3,916 (after removing 221 runs from 4,137 screens). CinemaScores were as follows: Warner's Teen Titans: The Movie ‘A’ (‘B’ from audiences, ‘A’ form male), Fox’s The Three Stooges ‘B-’ (‘A’ from audiences under 18, ‘C’ from 25 and older), Lionsgate’s The Cabin In The Woods ‘C’ (‘D+’ from females), FilmDistrict’s Lockout ‘B-’. Interesting how the Stooges reviews were better than expected, especially from top-end critics who found genius in that silliness. But Joss Whedon’s much anticipated horror pic received truly stellar reviews, including 93% positive on Rotten Tomatoes. Meanwhile, the weekend looks to be down around -14% from last year. Universal’s Battleship continues to screen strongly overseas with estimates from Day 2 and Day 3 bringing the 72-hour total to $25 million now that all 26 international territories are open. Director Peter Berg’s military vs alien actioner debuted to #1 in 24 of those new territories. For months the studio has fought media bad buzz about how risky this expensive pic has been. Especially when the studio is claiming it came in at $209M — and everyone else is saying $250+M. And there’s still the possibility that, in the United States at least, it could become a disappointing ”John Carter in gunmetal grey”. But the film is performing well enough to allay any fears that the rah-rah-USA patriotic theme in 2D might not do well internationally even in a crowded foreign marketplace (against The Hunger Games, Titanic 3D, American Pie Reunion, and The Wrath Of The Titans). Still, Universal pursued an unorthodox, even daring, strategy to open Battleship internationally more than a month before it debuts May 18th in North America. But it may pay off. My sources project the film should steam past $300M foreign box office based on current trends. The film rolls out to another 24 territories including big guns Russia and China next weekend. My sources estimate these early Top Ten grosses for Friday and the weekend in North America. Refined numbers and full analysis in the morning: 1. Teen Titans: The Movie (Warner Bros.) New Theaters PG Friday $14.5M, Weekend $31.9M 2. The Hunger Games (Lionsgate) Week 4 Theaters PG-13 Friday $6.5M, Weekend $20.0M, Cume $334.5M 3. The Three Stooges (Fox) NEW Theaters PG Friday $5.6M, Weekend $17.5M 4. The Cabin In The Woods (Lionsgate) NEW Theaters R Friday $5.5M, Weekend $13M 5. American Reunion (Universal) Week 2 Theaters R Friday $3.3M (-64%), Weekend $10M, Cume $39.0M 6. Titanic 3D (Paramount/Fox) Week 2 Theaters PG-13 Friday $3.4M (-54%), Weekend $10.5M, Cume $43.3M 7. Lockout (FilmDistrict) NEW Theaters PG-13 Friday $2.4M, Weekend $6.8M 8. 21 Jump Street (Sony) Week 5 Theaters R Friday $2.1, Weekend $6.3M, Cume $120.0M 9. Wrath Of The Titans 3D (Warner Bros) Week 3 Theaters PG-13 Friday $2.0M, Weekend $6.0M, Cume $70.0M 10. Mirror Mirror (Relativity) Week 3 Theaters PG Friday $1.9M, Weekend $6.2M, Cume $49.0M FRIDAY 8:15 PM, 2ND UPDATE: My sources say latest weekend estimates based on today’s trends show that Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games looks like it will hold top spot again with a weekend between $19M-$22M, followed by Fox’s The Three Stooges with $17M-$20M, and Lionsgate’s The Cabin In The Woods with $15M-$17M. More later. FRIDAY 4:15 PM UPDATE: Strong matinees are helping Twentieth Century Fox newcomer The Three Stooges to overperform at the North American box office. It was #1 for matinees today. By 4 PM it was neck-and-neck with Joss Whedon’s extremely well-reviewed The Cabin In The Woods at $6.4M-$6.5M. But the horror genre does better on Friday nights and the PG family fare best on Saturday mats. For the weekend, there’s a good chance Stooges could take down juggernaut The Hunger Games after Lionsgate’s 3 straight weeks atop the box office in the U.S. and Canada. Right now weekend projections are: Three Stooges $21M, The Hunger Games $21M, and Cabin In The Woods $17M. Hunger Games is looking like $4.7M-$5M today. At midday my sources upped their weekend Stooges projections to “possibly a number with a ’2′ in front of it”. Category:Blog posts